


Friendly Discussion

by Kestral



Category: The Ebon Ward (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Suino is a talked about but isn't there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-02
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-06 00:17:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15874644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kestral/pseuds/Kestral
Summary: When traveling, there's lots of time to talk with your friends. Sometimes these conversations are idle chit-chat, and sometimes they are very important. Sometimes they are pleasant, and sometimes no one is happy about what's happening.





	Friendly Discussion

            On his right side, Redpath could see gently rolling hills with the occasional stand of trees. This was likely the sort of land that was perfect for farming. It was so easy to imagine quaint villages dotting the area, but the land was empty. Sure, the birdsong was lovely, but it was melancholy to imagine all the little lives that could be lived out here: the laughs that could be shared and losses grieved, all among other people. Instead, the wagon bumped along through quiet hills.

            On his left, he could see a mass of brown fur and nothing else.

            From the other side of Gnash, Maze cleared his through. “Why was this seat built for only two people?” He said, without the necessary inflection to make the question into something that sounded like a question.

            “Probably because Barret only expected two people to sit on it.” Redpath answered.

            “Well, that was an oversight.”

            “You know that’s how carriages normally are, right? Just the two seats in front?”

            “And that’s also an oversight.”

            Already knowing the answer, Redpath said, “well, if you’re that uncomfortable, you can always go sit inside.”

            “Absolutely not.”

            “Gnash could walk,” Gnash suggested.

            “Absolutely not!” Redpath twisted his arm around to path him on the back. “You deserve to sit here as much as we do. Besides! _I’m_ perfectly comfortable.” It wasn’t like Gnash’s fur was incredibly prickly. Nothing like that!

            They continued to roll along until Maze broke the silence again.

            “I mean, it’s an important conversation, but do they have to be having it right now?”

            “It’s not like this trip was going to get any _less_ awkward.”

            “Yeah, but right now? When we’re all stuck on the same wagon? With nowhere else to go?”

            “We not get kicked out, we just left,” Gnash pointed out.

            “Yeah! Because it was really fucking uncomfortable in there!”

            “Heh, fucking.” Redpath laughed quietly to himself.

            “Yeah! Fucking! How did Suino reach 16 years old without knowing what fuck meant?”

            “I mean, that’s just how religious schools work,” Redpath said with great authority on the topic. “They teach you that if you have sex you’ll have kids and then die.”

            “What, really?” Maze sounded something near astounded.

            “Yeah, it’s real messed up, isn’t it?”

            “Religion is weird.”

            “You’re telling me.” Redpath rolled his eyes.

            “For gnolls, sex not big secret. It just happen. It not weird to talk about like how Suino making it.”

            “Right?” Maze said. “It doesn’t have to be like this!”

            “Oh yeah?” Redpath tried to lean out around Gnash to look at Maze. “Were you nice and reasonable when you got the ol’ birds and bees explained to you?”

            “I mean, yeah. One day my master was like ‘girls are great, oh and you’re probably old enough for this now, this is what sex is.’ No need to make an ordeal out of it.”

            “Well,” Redpath grinned. “I made a bit of an ordeal out of it, but I was ten and certainly wasn’t an employee of a shady organization who had been on missions to the abyss.”

            “See, this is why this level of immaturity surprises me! I mean she did throw a tantrum over an egg, but after facing down a daemon she can’t handle a discussion of anatomy!

            “Wow Maze, you’re actually getting pretty worked up over this.”

            “Yeah, because now the three of us are stuck out here in this tiny seat.”

            “Dia didn’t kick us out, you could go sit inside,” Redpath said, feeling even more smug than the last time he suggested it.

            “Why don’t _you_ go sit inside?” he snapped.

            “Oh no,” he said a little too quickly. “I’m fine out here.”

            The wagon bumped over a rut and rattled as they all fell back into their own thoughts.

            “Trying to remember big conversation in Yez’Modazz,” Gnash said slowly after a long silence. “Confusing, but when I’m confused I not always ask question, so maybe Suino not as well?”

            “Oh? Was there a steamy conversation down there?” Redpath turned to look up at Gnash but was rewarded only with a face full of fur.

            “It just a puzzle, how Suino know Bossanova, but not know sex.”

            “Maybe she just built up a mental wall around it? People do that. Sometimes they don’t want to know something so badly that they learn to not see what is happening all around them. They just learn to ignore everything they don’t want to know about.”

            “No more wall now for Suino. Dia break it,” Gnash chuckled.

            “They way I hear it,” Maze said. “Suino was the one breaking things.”

            Redpath snickered. “Yeah she sure was!”

            They all studied the road.

            “It’s funny,” Redpath spoke up after a time. “Sometimes you forget that she’s 16, and then you remember and you’re like ‘holy shit she’s only 16?’ But then there are times like these and you’re like, ‘yup she’s definitely 16.’”

            “Right?” Maze lowered his voice. “She’s so competent, and then she throws a fit over an egg.”

            “Exactly. When I was 16 I was useless _and_ fool.” Redpath sighed, thinking of growing up, and his sister, and what cheerful idiots they had been.

            He pushed the thoughts aside. “So, what were you two like at 16?”

            There was no response.

            “That bad, eh?”

            “Nothing’s really sticking out to me about 16,” Maze said. “But it was a long time ago.”

            “Gnash is 6.”

            “Holy shit what?” Redpath said. “Wait, did I already know that?”

            He could tell Gnash shrugged in response by how the fur bristled across his face.

            “What were you like as an adolescent then?” He tried again

            “What an ad-ol-less-ant?”

            “Hmm, how to define, ah-“

            “It’s when you’re big enough to do everything an adult can, but too dumb to do any of it well,” Maze said, cutting him off.

            “The age between child and when you’re considered an adult.” Redpath cut back with a better definition.

            “Oh,” Gnash gave a rumbling laugh. “Yeah. Made lots of stupid mistake, but kind that not have consequences.”

            “See, and that’s what being an adolescent is about. There was one time when I-“

            The door behind them opened and Dia leaned out, interrupting. “Hey boys, got room on that seat for me?”

            “What does it look like?” Maze said flatly.

            Dia draped herself across the three of them. “Thanks!”

            “Woah, okay,” Redpath blinked as a fancily booted foot flew past his face.

            “Why are you even out here?” Maze said, a little less flatly.

            “Oh, Suino needed some space to process all that education.”

            “But why are you _out_ here?” Maze tried and failed again to get his point across.

            “Well, I,” she paused. “Say, it’s a little cramped out here, isn’t it?”

            “Really?” Redpath raised his eyebrows. “I hadn’t noticed.”

            “Yeah,” Dia shifted about. “Why was this seat built for only three people?”

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Redpath was right, the trip didn't get any less awkward.


End file.
